Exemplary embodiments relate to a device for a relay transceiver, a device for a network component, a vehicle, a method for a relay transceiver, a method for a network component, and a program comprising a program code.
Mobile communication systems are always faced with new challenges: modern smartphones (intelligent portable terminals) enable the use of a multiplicity of new services, such as e.g. online navigation, music or video streaming, online communication and mobile internet. Since these services often make up a large part of the functionality of a smartphone, the network operators must attempt to achieve the widest possible coverage of a mobile communication system.
Besides wired base station transceivers linked to the network of the network operator via a cable, there are also relay transceivers which themselves establish a wireless connection to the mobile communication system and then provide this connection for mobile transceivers. In this case, by virtue of larger antennas, a better power supply and a more favorable location (e.g. on a hill or with antennas outside a vehicle), relay transceivers can usually establish a better connection to a mobile communication system than the mobile terminals themselves, and improve the linking of the mobile transceivers to the mobile communication system.
Mobile broadband services are often used precisely in vehicles, whether on the way to work or when traveling. In this regard, the demand for broadband internet within vehicles has risen sharply in recent years since many customers do not want to dispense with internet-based entertainment services even when traveling. However, the mobile radio signals received within vehicles are significantly attenuated by the damping that the signal experiences as a result of the shell of the vehicle. As a result, the reception quality is detrimentally affected and there are a large number of interrupted calls within the vehicle. This problem may get worse in the future if the manufacturers, for emission reasons, switch to metal film windows that approximately transform the vehicle into a Faraday cage. Here, too, mobile relay transceivers may be required in the future in order to provide an improved reception quality for the occupants of the vehicle.
The relay transceivers themselves are then connected to the mobile communication system via a base station transceiver. For this purpose, they set up a protocol tunnel (e.g. an encrypted internet protocol security tunnel (also called IPSec-tunnel) to the network of the mobile radio operator, which then forwards the data packets and telephony data to the respective communication partners. The use of the tunnels means that all inquiries arrive in the network of the mobile radio operator in a bundled fashion, which increases security in the mobile communication system since the tunnel can thus be directed e.g. even via potentially insecure connections of cooperation partners.
Further information about relay transceivers can be found for instance in:    B. Zafar, S. Gherekhloo, and M. Haardt, “Analysis of Multihop Relaying Networks: Communication Between Range-Limited and Cooperative Nodes”, IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine, vol. 7, No. 3, pp. 40-47, September 2012;    M. Ilyas, S. A. Ahson (editors), “IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) Handbook”, CRC Press, 2008;    3GPP TS 36.413, “Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN); S1 Application Protocol (S1AP)”;    US20120063415 A1, “IMS femtocell for voice, data and video”, Jung Yee, Wi-Lan, Inc., 2012;    US 20110305196 A1, “Communication system, femto-cell base station, authentication device, communication method, and memory medium”, Osamu Kurokawa, Kazuki Eguchi, Yasuo Kanazawa, Yasuhiro, Watanabe, Hiroaki Akiyama, Takayuki Kido, Akatsuki Minami, 2011; and    Y. Yinghua, N. Vora, J. P. Sairanen, M. Sahasrabudhe, “Enabling local breakout from eNB in LTE networks”, IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC), pp. 6982-6986, 10-15 Jun. 2012.
There is therefore a need to provide an improved concept for relay transceivers.
Exemplary embodiments are based on the insight that it may be expedient to perform a prioritization of data packets that place specific quality demands on the data connection, such as internet telephony and video streaming, for example, since the content of the data packets that are forwarded by the relay transceiver is unknown to the base station, in particular on account of possible encryptions.
Some exemplary embodiments may make this possible by the use of a control module that is integrated for example into a relay transceiver. The control module may then analyze data packets, for example, and draw conclusions about the required connection quality therefrom. In this case, the control module could e.g. extract service quality (also called Quality of Service, (QoS)) indicators already present from the header data of the data packets, or analyze the content of the data packets by pattern recognition and determine information about quality criteria. On the basis of these quality criteria, in exemplary embodiments the control module may then instruct the mobile communication system to set up data connections corresponding to said quality criteria. The data packets may then be transferred via the respective data connection corresponding to the associated quality criterion. This enables both the secure transfer of the data between relay transceiver and network of the mobile communication system, and the transfer of data in accordance with their quality criteria.
In further exemplary embodiments, the requirement for establishing a connection in accordance with a quality criterion may also come from the side of the network of the mobile radio operator. For example, a network component at the transition between a network of the operator of the mobile communication system could, analogously to the previous exemplary embodiment, analyze data packets and set up data connections to the relay transceiver which correspond to the respective quality criteria.
Exemplary embodiments therefore provide a device for a relay transceiver of a mobile communication system. The mobile communication system furthermore has a base station transceiver and a packet data network interface. In this case, the device comprises at least one transceiver module designed to communicate with at least one mobile transceiver and with the base station transceiver. The relay transceiver furthermore comprises a control module designed to determine, on the basis of a data packet received from the at least one mobile transceiver, information about a quality criterion of a service associated with the data packet, and to establish, on the basis of the information about the quality criterion, at least one data connection to the packet data network interface via the base station transceiver. This makes it possible to take account of quality criteria when transferring data packets from the relay transceiver to the network of the operator of the mobile communication system, in particular via a wireless connection between the relay transceiver and the base station transceiver.
In some exemplary embodiments, the control module is designed to establish via the at least one transceiver module data connections with different quality criteria to the base station transceiver. By way of example, the control module may furthermore be designed to establish, on the basis of the information about the quality criterion of the service associated with the data packet, a data connection with a corresponding quality criterion to the packet data network interface via the base station transceiver in order to transfer data packets assigned to data services with identical quality criteria via the same connection to the base station transceiver. There is the possibility that as a result the number of connections which are active in parallel decreases and the data packets are simultaneously transferred in accordance with their quality criteria. In some exemplary embodiments, a number of different connections may accordingly correspond to the number of different quality criteria and data packets of services with identical quality criteria may be bundled in one connection, e.g. in a common protocol tunnel.
In exemplary embodiments, the control module may furthermore be designed to determine, on the basis of a plurality of received data packets, information about a plurality of quality criteria about a plurality of data services associated with the data packets, and to set up, on the basis of the information about the plurality of quality criteria, a plurality of data connections to the base station transceiver. In this regard, in exemplary embodiments, a plurality of data connections may simultaneously be set up in accordance with the information about the quality criteria, for utilizing a plurality of data services in accordance with the information about the quality criteria.
In some exemplary embodiments, the relay transceiver may be a mobile relay transceiver, for example in order to provide the occupants of vehicles with a connection to a mobile communication system.
In further exemplary embodiments, the mobile communication system may furthermore have a coordination module, a link connection and a network component. In this case, the relay transceiver may be connected via the link connection to the network component, which receives the data packets of the mobile transceiver. In exemplary embodiments, the coordination module may be designed to set up the at least one data connection in accordance with the information about the quality criterion, and the control module may furthermore be designed to communicate the information about the quality criterion via an internet protocol multimedia subsystem interface to the coordination module. As a result, in exemplary embodiments, it is possible to utilize the mechanisms for taking account of quality criteria which are already present in radio technologies. Exemplary embodiments in this respect also provide a relay transceiver which comprises the device described above, and a mobile communication system having a relay transceiver which comprises a device described above.
In some exemplary embodiments, the control module may be designed to determine the information about the quality criterion of the service associated with the data packet by extracting the quality criterion from the header data of the data packet. The control module may furthermore also be designed to determine the information about the quality criterion of the service associated with the data packet by pattern analysis of the content of the data packet. Through the use of different mechanisms for recognizing information about quality criteria, the control module in exemplary embodiments may determine both explicitly defined and implicitly recognized information about quality criteria.
In exemplary embodiments, the control module may be designed to communicate in an encrypted fashion via the data connection, which increases the security of the link connection against interception. Exemplary embodiments in this respect also provide a relay transceiver which comprises the device described above, and a mobile communication system having a relay transceiver which comprises a device described above.
Exemplary embodiments furthermore provide a device for a network component for providing a data service to at least one mobile transceiver in a mobile communication system. The mobile communication system furthermore has a relay transceiver. In this case, the device comprises at least one interface module designed to communicate via the one relay transceiver with the at least one mobile transceiver, and to communicate with at least one communication partner of the at least one mobile transceiver. It furthermore has a control module designed to determine, on the basis of a data packet received from the at least one communication partner of the at least one mobile transceiver, information about a quality criterion of a service associated with the data packet, and to establish, on the basis of the information about the quality criterion, at least one data connection via a packet data network interface of the mobile communication system to the relay transceiver. In this regard, e.g. the interface to the network of an operator of a mobile communication system may also undertake the determination of the information about quality criteria and set up the data connection in accordance with the information about the quality criteria in order to utilize the latter for the link connection.
In some exemplary embodiments, the control module may be designed to establish via the at least one interface module connections with different quality criteria to the mobile transceiver via the relay transceiver. There is furthermore the possibility that the control module is furthermore designed to establish, on the basis of the information about the quality criterion of the service associated with the data packet, at least one data connection with a corresponding quality criterion to the relay transceiver, and to transfer data packets assigned to data services with identical quality criteria via the same data connection to the relay transceiver. There is the possibility that, as a result, the number of connections which are active in parallel decreases and the data packets are simultaneously transferred in accordance with their quality criteria.
In further exemplary embodiments, the control module may furthermore be designed to determine, on the basis of a plurality of received data packets, information about a plurality of quality criteria about a plurality of data services associated with the data packets, and to set up, on the basis of the information about the plurality of quality criteria, a plurality of data connections to the relay transceiver. In this regard, in exemplary embodiments, a plurality of connections may simultaneously be set up in accordance with the information about the quality criteria, for utilizing a plurality of data services in accordance with the information about the quality criteria.
In exemplary embodiments, the mobile communication system may furthermore have a coordination module. The coordination module may be designed for example to set up the at least one data connection in accordance with the information about the quality criterion. The control module could furthermore be designed to communicate the information about the quality criterion via an internet protocol multimedia subsystem interface to the coordination module. As a result, in exemplary embodiments, it is possible to utilize the mechanisms for taking account of quality criteria which are already present in radio technologies.
There is the possibility that the control module is furthermore designed to determine the information about the quality criterion of the service associated with the data packet by extracting the quality criterion from the header data of the data packet, and/or that the control module is designed to determine the information about the quality criterion of the service associated with the data packet by pattern analysis of the content of the data packet. Through the use of different mechanisms for recognizing information about quality criteria, the control module in exemplary embodiments may determine both explicitly defined and implicitly recognized information about quality criteria.
In exemplary embodiments, the control module may furthermore be designed to communicate in an encrypted fashion via the link connection, which increases the security of the link connection against interception. Exemplary embodiments in this respect also provide a network component which comprises the device described above, and a mobile communication system having a network component which comprises a device described above, and a mobile communication system having a relay transceiver which comprises a device described above and/or a network component which comprises a device described above.
A vehicle comprising a device for a mobile transceiver may also be one exemplary embodiment, wherein the relay transceiver is mobile and is furthermore designed to communicate with mobile transceivers of vehicle occupants. This makes it possible, in exemplary embodiments, to utilize a larger area for antennas and a better power supply by the vehicle in order to obtain a higher reception quality.
Exemplary embodiments provide a method for a relay transceiver in a mobile communication system according to the above description. The mobile communication system furthermore has a base station transceiver. The method comprises communicating with at least one mobile transceiver; communicating with the base station transceiver; determining information about a quality criterion of a service associated with a data packet received from the at least one mobile transceiver; and establishing a data connection to the packet data network interface via the base station transceiver on the basis of the information about the quality criterion.
Exemplary embodiments furthermore provide a method for a network component for providing a data service to at least one mobile transceiver in a mobile communication system. The mobile communication system furthermore has a relay transceiver. The method comprises communicating via the one relay transceiver with the at least one mobile transceiver, communicating with at least one communication partner of the at least one mobile transceiver, determining information about a quality criterion of a service associated with a data packet received from the at least one communication partner of the at least one mobile transceiver, on the basis of a data packet received from the at least one communication partner of the at least one mobile transceiver, and establishing a data connection via a packet data network interface of the mobile communication system to the relay transceiver on the basis of the information about the quality criterion.
Exemplary embodiments furthermore provide a program/computer program comprising a program code for carrying out at least one of the methods described above when the program code is executed on a computer, a processor, a controller or a programmable hardware component. Exemplary embodiments also provide a digital storage medium which is machine- or computer-readable and which has electronically readable control signals which can interact with a programmable hardware component such that one of the methods described above is performed.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of one or more preferred embodiments when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.